Boardmasters 2017, love you and thank you for an incredible show. Sending my love to the people in the front row following the crowd incident, hope you're all blessed. ❤️

A post shared by Gang Signs & Prayer (@stormzyofficial) on Aug 16, 2017 at 1:08pm PDT

THIS WEEK, ATTITUDE Magazine in the UK discovered a series of offensive tweets sent by Stormzy back in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

The three tweets unearthed show the rapper using variations of the term “fa**ot”:

Source: Twitter via Attitude

Source: Attitude

Earlier this afternoon, Stormzy addressed the since deleted tweets in a thread - apologising unreservedly for his “very hurtful and discriminative views”

I said some foul and offensive things whilst tweeting years ago at a time when I was young and proudly ignorant. Very hurtful and discriminative views that I’ve unlearned as I’ve grown up and become a man..

— #GSAP (@Stormzy1) November 22, 2017

Source: #GSAP/Twitter

“The comments I made were unacceptable and disgusting, full stop.”

Source: @Stormzy1

Source: @Stormzy1

Source: @Stormzy1

He wrote about how he has learned what effect that type of language has in the intervening years:

The comments I made were unacceptable and disgusting, full stop. Comments that I regret and to everyone I’ve offended, I am sorry, these are attitudes I’ve left in the past. The homophobic language I used was, embarrassingly, a part of my vocabulary when I was younger and ignorance made me feel comfortable to use them whilst not understanding the hate and the ramifications they carry. That isn’t an excuse, I take responsibility for my mistakes and hope you can understand that my younger self doesn’t reflect who I am today.

People immediately recognised that this wasn’t like a standard celebrity apology

Source: @fishplums

Source: @Eden_VB

Stormzy giving a masterclass in how to apologise for past bad tweets https://t.co/a8NWH7EVSk

— Elena Cresci (@elenacresci) November 22, 2017

Source: Elena Cresci/Twitter

He understands that the language he used as a teenager was homophobic

To be fair to Stormzy, who is about the same age as me, he made these remarks when he was a teenager. Most of my peers used that language at some point at school. & he wasn't a public figure then. https://t.co/lX2DUQBCWY

— Helena Horton (@horton_official) November 22, 2017

Source: Helena Horton/Twitter

Stormzy's apology was mature, considered and respectful though and I appreciate him for taking full ownership. Even if I think it was gutter journalism to dig up his old tweets

— Jason (@jasonosamede) November 22, 2017

Source: Jason/Twitter

The lack of a “I’m sorry if I offended anyone” line was instantly noticeable too

Stormzy's apology seems good, and might be the first ever time someone has apologised without using the phrase 'sorry if'

— Tom Victor (@tomvictor) November 22, 2017

Source: Tom Victor/Twitter

Given the amount of unsatisfactory celebrity apologies that have circulated in recent weeks – including Conor McGregor’s appearance on the Late Late - this was a breath of fresh air

As apologies go this is much better than trying to suggest a whole community is to blame as some others recently have. https://t.co/IAP1bvfbVZ

— Adrian Bradley (@adebradley) November 22, 2017

Source: Adrian Bradley/Twitter

Source: @bananaliquor

Stormzy took ownership of his past once he was alerted to it, and, for many, his unequivocal statement shows he really has grown

Source: @rainbowsrosesbl

Source: @goopery

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